Barney The Dinosaur Gets A Home At Universal Studios

ATTRACTIONS

A certain purple Tyrannosaurus Rex has returned to Universal Studios Florida. This time, he's here to stay.

Barney will open the doors to his new home at the theme park Tuesday when officials plan to unveil an attraction called ''A Day in the Park With Barney.''

Whether Barney makes you laugh, cry or gag, you can bet there'll be lots of fidgety, star-struck preschoolers lining up to see their TV idol next week.

The star of PBS' Barney & Friends program caused stroller gridlock when he appeared in parades at Universal Studios two years ago. He drew crowds again during his second stint at the park, a sing-along show in April.

The new Barney attraction will anchor a children's area at Universal Studios that includes Fievel's Playland and the Animal Actors show. Park officials hope Barney will put Universal Studios on the ''must see'' list for families with young children.

The centerpiece of the attraction is a 15-minute stage show featuring Barney and his PBS cohorts, Baby Bop and B.J. After the show, the audience files into a large indoor play area where parents can relax while their kids work off some energy.

Those are just the highlights.

As soon as visitors walk through the arched gateway to Barney's ''park,'' they'll know they're in children's territory.

The menu at the Kid's Cafe includes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and purple ''slushies.'' Even the restrooms - where some of the toilets are just inches off the floor and the walls are painted with lively murals - were designed for half-pints.

But for grown-ups' benefit, the creators of the attraction set out from the beginning to make this a mellow place that would entertain children without the intense stimulation found in other areas of Universal Studios.

''We want people to find it as a little bit of an oasis in an otherwise hustle-bustle theme park,'' said Craig McIntyre, the project director.

The circular courtyard at the entrance to the attraction is surrounded by trees, flowers and grassy areas. The sounds of birds, crickets and frogs are piped in, along with children singing ''The Itsy Bitsy Spider'' and other nursery tunes.

The buildings and other fixtures of the attraction are painted in muted shades of blue and green. No neon or Hollywood hype in this corner of Universal Studios.

Before the encounter with Barney, visitors enter a large gazebolike building for a pre-show led by a clownish guy who goes by the cornball name of Mr. Peekaboo.

A bumbling absent-minded professor type, Mr. Peekaboo preps the kids with songs and other cues to build the anticipation for Barney's appearance. Borrowing from the television show, he tells them they can bring Barney to life just by using their imagination. Sure enough, at the end of his act, a waterfall on one side of the room stops flowing to reveal the entrance to a theater-in-the-round.

The theater has the look and feel of a wooded area in the countryside. The walls are painted with a landscape of green hills and blue skies. In front of the walls stand life-sized trees.

As soon as the audience is seated, there's more music and more buildup to Barney's arrival. The trees start to sparkle with fiber-optic lights as the room turns quiet and dark. Then, in a burst of sound and color, Barney suddenly appears on stage, laughing his goofy laugh and waving his stubby little arms.

The rest is mostly familiar stuff, including several sing-along tunes that many Barney fans know by heart: ''If You're Happy and You Know It,'' ''Down On Grandpa's Farm'' and Barney's take on rap music, ''Mr. Knickerbocker.'' Baby Bop and B.J. come out about halfway through the show, waddling and skipping on baby dinosaur legs.

The show concludes with - what else - the ''I Love You'' song.

Next comes play time. The theater is connected to a large playroom with enough contraptions to keep a small child busy for an hour or more.

There are climbing structures, a sandbox area, a water-play area and plenty of ways to make noise and music, including colored stones in the floor that sound different notes when you step on them. For parents, there are benches.

The playroom also is the place where children can get their picture taken with Barney in ''meet and greet'' sessions after the show.

When everybody has had his/her fill and it's time to leave, prepare for one last dose of Barney on the way out.

This time, be prepared to pull out your wallet because the last stop in the attraction is a Barney merchandise shop.